My head felt like lead, my throat felt like sandpaper and my mouth felt as dry as the Sahara Desert. I ran my tongue over my bottom lip and tasted salt, I tried to lift myself but the ground shifted under my hands. My eyes fluttered open and I saw exactly where I'd ended up. I was at the beach 40 miles west of the town. 40 miles. I'd travelled 40 miles, and I had no idea how or why. I had no idea how long I'd even been gone or how long it would be before Mathias found me.
I took a deep breath and tried to sit up again. The world span before my eyes. The motion made me feel nauseous. My heart pounding so fast I thought that nausea might become more than a feeling if I moved again.
"Ah, so you're actually conscious now." A shadow fell across my face, and when I looked up I knew that face I found. The sight of Mathias' scruffy curls and warm chestnut eyes made my heart lighten just a little.
"So, do we still have our suicidal tendencies now we've gained our full consciousness?"
Suicidal tendencies? Why was I still surprised by this? Every time the Huntress took over I wanted nothing more than to end everything, to never wake up, never see the light of day again. It never worked of course; I was an immortal. But the return to my own self conscience always left me delirious, and no one ever knew how long the delusions would last.
I didn't answer his question, couldn't bring myself to ask what I'd done this time.
"Where's my knife?"
"Hidden." That one word had anger rising in my vein.
"What?! How dare you?! That was the last thing I got from my father!"
"Nina, I came to give it back and you tried to bury it in your heart! So I took it back and I hid it." Anger rose higher, almost like a fire raging through my blood. That hunting knife had been the one thing I had left of my father and he had taken it from me.
"Then why am I here?! How do you explain this?!" I threw my arms out in gesture for him to look around us.
"How am I supposed to know?!" I hadn't seen him so angry since Aaliyah died. "I went to hide the knife and came back to find you gone! When I did find you again, you were face down in the sea."
I'd drowned myself. It hadn't worked, of course, I was immortal and mortal deaths had no hold over me.
"How long was I out?" All anger drained from my body and hands went cold. Mathias' jaw remained clenched. "How long Mathias?"
"A week."
A week? I'd never been out for so long, but then again I'd never drowned myself before. Most attempts left me out of action for maybe two days max, but a week??
"When's the full moon?" Nausea hit me like a train. I had to know, because if I went back to the town before the full moon and Rogan was still the wolf... well things wouldn't end on good terms. My heart began to palpitate and my breathing became quick and uneven. I looked him in the eye and knew that he knew what I dreaded.
I pulled myself up on to my feet and began to back away from him, repeating the question as I moved. I didn't stop moving until I was again waist high in sea water.
"Nina." His voice had an edge of worry to it. We both knew that one more step would be all it took for me to sink into the depths again.
"Tell me, or I'll throw myself back in to depths, and don't think I won't." My voice shook, terror taking over every inch of my body.
"Nina, come out of the water. We can talk about this like civilised human beings." His voice shook just as much as mine did.
"Tell me!" The shout tore through my throat like a million tiny shards of broken glass.
